The present disclosure relates to cooled product merchandizing units. More particularly, it relates to modular cooled product merchandizing units assembled to a desired shape and size from a kit of parts.
Perishable and other food items are frequently displayed and sold at places of business (e.g. grocery or convenience stores, food courts, etc.). In many instances, the food items are maintained in inventory year-round and are often placed in a permanent merchandizing unit (e.g., large, glass door refrigerator or freezer). Other perishable food items are offered during promotions, and are better suited for presentation to customers in a temporary merchandizing unit. To this end, grocers and other sellers of food items have a need for temporary cooling units that are effective in safely cooling perishable food items. Similar needs arise for display of frozen food items.
One simple temporary merchandizing unit format is a disposable case containing ice packs and ice to cool the perishable items. Due to the limited cooling capacity, sellers disfavor this format. Another disincentive is the cost associated with their disposal.
As an alternative, small scale refrigerators or freezers can be employed as a temporary cooled merchandizing unit. However, this approach is disfavored due primarily to the expense and lack of portability. Compressor-based cooling units are typically fairly large and are not easily moved to different locations within a store.
More recently, thermoelectric-based temporary merchandizing units have been developed, and provide many benefits over vapor pressure refrigerators. For example, the thermoelectric cooling device can be arranged in different thermoelectric orientations as no refrigeration fluids are utilized, affording the ability to create more stylized merchandizing unit appearances. Further, thermoelectric-based systems are lighter, potentially less expensive, and have significant life spans due to a lack of moving parts.
Regardless of the type of cooling technology employed, cooled merchandizing units are conventionally available to grocers and other end users in either an upright configuration or a coffin configuration. With either style, the unit manufacturer may have several “standard” sizes available for purchase. In many instances, however, the standard styles and/or sizes are less than optimal for a particular end use application. For example, an end user may have limited floor space available for the cooled merchandizing unit; the standard styles and sizes available from the manufacturer may not exactly meet these requirements. Similarly, end users oftentimes envision uniquely shaped merchandizing units for certain products; again, the standard units available from manufacturers may not satisfy these desires.
While a manufacturer could undoubtedly design a “new” cooled merchandizing unit commensurate with a particular end user's desired style and size, the costs associated with such efforts are highly prohibitive. Designing and manufacturing/assembling a cooled merchandizing unit entails not only intensive research and development efforts, but also the costs of manufacturing tooling necessary to produce and assemble the unit's components. Typically, tooling for a powered cooled merchandizing unit is quite expensive, on the order of 250 thousand dollars. By mass producing and selling only a few “standard” unit configurations, these costs can be recouped at a per unit price that is economically viable for most end users. However, if only one or a small quantity of a particular “new” or specialized unit were to be sold, the per unit price necessary to cover the corresponding costs would well exceed what the end user is willing to pay. Oftentimes, this prevents an end user's “new” merchandizing unit vision from going any further.
In light of the above, a need exists for a modular cooled merchandizing unit, and kits and methods for manufacturing the same.